Donald Trump has signed an executive order to open a migrant detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.

Speaking before making the act official, Mr Trump said that thousands of migrants who cannot be deported to their home countries will be held at the complex, on the island of Cuba.

“I’m also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” he said.

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“Most people don’t even know about it. We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.

“Some of them are so bad we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back.”

It comes as Mr Trump’s controversial pick for health secretary – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – faced a hearing committee where he was grilled on his views, including on vaccines and abortion.

Guantanamo Bay was set up in 2002 by then president George W. Bush to hold detainees in the wake of 9/11 and the War on Terror.

Only 15 prisoners – including Ramzi bin al Shibh, accused of being a 9/11 co-conspirator – remain at the detention centre.

At its peak, about 680 people, most suspected of terrorism and being “illegal enemy combatants”, were held at the American-run prison in Cuba.

The facility has been criticised by human rights groups and legal campaigners over potential breaches of international laws and conditions.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel deemed the decision as “an act of brutality” in a message on his X account, and he described the base as one “located in illegally occupied Cuba territory”.

In response to Mr Trump’s announcement, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci – who briefly served under the previous Trump administration – said: “Also known as a concentration camp.

“Yet no dissent. No courageous political leader willing to stand up to this.”

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RFK Jr faces Senate hearing

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Kennedy – the president’s pick to be health secretary – faced a grilling over his views on vaccines, abortion and Medicaid at a Senate confirmation hearing.

Appearing at the Capitol, Democratic senators raised some of the 71-year-old’s previous remarks comparing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Nazi death camps, linking school shootings to antidepressants, and his claim that “no vaccine is safe and effective”.

One senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, told Mr Kennedy “frankly, you frighten people” when discussing an outbreak of measles in Rhode Island – its first since 2013.

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The nominee said he did “not have a broad proposal for dismantling” Medicaid – a state and federal taxpayer-funded healthcare programme – and dismissed claims he was anti-vaccine by saying his children were vaccinated.

Mr Kennedy – the son of Robert F Kennedy and nephew of former US president John F Kennedy – was also questioned on his previous support for abortion and was shown statements as recent as from when he was running for president as an independent.

He said he now agrees with the president that “every abortion is a tragedy”.

Federal funding pause memo rescinded

It also comes after Mr Trump’s budget office rescinded an order freezing spending on federal grants – less than two days after it sparked legal challenges across the US.

The order on Monday sparked uncertainty over a financial lifeline for states, schools and organisations that rely on trillions of dollars from Washington.

However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Sky’s US partner network NBC that the freeze itself has not been withdrawn and that it was simply a cancellation of the memo ordering it.

Shares in Microsoft have fallen sharply after investment spending came in higher than expected in its latest results, released just days after the DeepSeek market shock for tech stocks.

The company, which has received reprimands from shareholders previously over AI-related bills, had already let it be known it expected to spend $80bn this year ahead of its earnings report on Wednesday night.

That AI spending forecast came before Monday’s rout for AI-linked stocks that saw the leading AI chipmaker Nvidia suffer the worst one-day loss in history, with almost $600m erased from its market value.

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While it has since clawed back some of those losses, it has left investors pondering whether the levels of investment planned by big US tech as a whole is completely necessary.

It’s all a consequence of the emergence of DeepSeek – the Chinese-owned and developed chatbot currently sitting atop Apple’s app store free downloads.

It toppled ChatGPT to get there.

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DeepSeek’s claims to have created the assistant on a shoestring budget – when compared to the vast US investment to date – forced US tech investors to not only question the huge sums involved but also the lofty market values of exposed firms.

Ahead of Monday’s market reaction that saw constituents of the Nasdaq bleed a combined total above €1trn, there had been an 18-month stampede for AI-linked shares.

Microsoft was among those to benefit in that time and among those to face pressure on Monday.

The company, a major shareholder in privately owned OpenAI, lost $7bn in market value.

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Analysts said that Microsoft’s latest share price pain was related to slower-than-expected growth in its crucial Azure cloud business between October and December despite an increasing contribution from AI.

Capital expenditure came in $1.6bn higher than consensus forecasts.

Just hours earlier, the company announced that it had added DeepSeek’s model to its offerings on Azure.

Shares were up to 4% lower in after-hours trading despite both group revenue and profits beating estimates.

This year’s famous Super Bowl half-time show needs to be more “family friendly”, a group of critics has said – following what they describe as “vulgar” past performances by Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna, and the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”.

Republican politicians and campaigners in Louisiana have written a letter to organisers raising “serious concerns” ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, which is due to take place at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans in February.

Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar will headline the half-time show.

In a letter signed by 17 Republican senators and representatives for Louisiana, as well as 15 pro-family organisations, critics called out Lopez‘s performance alongside Shakira in Florida in 2020, saying the star “wore little clothing and was groped by male and female dancers on stage”, and also “made sexually suggestive gestures and performed on a stripper pole”.

Criticising Rihanna‘s performance at the 2023 half-time show in Arizona – when the star revealed she was pregnant with her second child – they said she was shown “groping herself” while singing lyrics “that were so offensive that few Louisiana adults could read those lyrics before an audience without shame”.

The letter continued: “We realize that these past vulgar performances may have been acceptable to the residents of those states where those Super Bowls were held but, in Louisiana, these lewd acts are inappropriate for viewing by children, objectify women, and are simply NOT welcomed by the majority of Louisiana parents.”

Read more: What you need to know about the Super Bowl

‘It would have violated obscenity law’

Jackson‘s performance with Justin Timberlake in Texas in 2004, during which he exposed one of her breasts, was also highlighted.

“Had that 2004 performance taken place in Louisiana and been proven to be intentional, it would have violated Louisiana’s obscenity law,” the letter said.

CBS, which aired that year’s Super Bowl, was fined $550,000 by the Federal Communications Commission over the incident – but this was later overturned.

In 2021, following the release of the Framing Britney Spears documentary, which included details of Timberlake’s relationship with the star and their break-up, conversation around his Super Bowl performance with Jackson was also reignited.

At the time of the incident, Jackson bore the brunt of the criticism, while Timberlake’s solo career flourished. In 2021, Timberlake issued an apology, saying: “I specifically want to apologise to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”

The Republicans’ letter did not mention Timberlake but said Jackson’s “exposed bare breast was excused by one of her fellow performers as a ‘wardrobe malfunction’.”

Super Bowl half-time performances have become “increasingly vile”, it continued, and therefore it could be “reasonably anticipated that the half-time performance this year in New Orleans will be inappropriate for children to watch”.

Sky News has contacted the celebrities for a response to the criticism.

Senator Valarie Hodges, who signed the letter and shared details on X, said: “My hope is that Louisiana can set an example for future hosting states of the Super Bowl in advocating for entertainment suitable for viewers of all ages without needing a content rating.”

It has also been shared by the Family Research Council. President Tony Perkins, a former Louisiana state representative who is also one of the signatories, said their complaint was “not only about protecting children, important as that is, but also upholding community standards”.

The letter is addressed to Phillip Sherman, chairman of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and Robert Vosbein Jr, chairman of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, which oversees the superdrome venue.

In a statement sent to Sky News, Jay Cicero, president and chief executive of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, said: “We respect and value the comments of our legislators, who play a critical role in our ability to secure large events providing an economic boost to our city and state.

“We have shared the letter with the NFL and we are all in agreement that this year’s half-time show will be a family-friendly event befitting New Orleans’ storied history hosting Super Bowls.”

Mr Vosbein told the Louisiana Illuminator news outlet it was “unfortunate” Ms Hodges had waited until less than a few weeks before the event to share her concerns.

Sky News has contacted both organisations for comment.